Spain’s ambassador to Malta, H.E María Consuelo Femenía Guardiola, believes Spanish investors still have a lot to discover about Malta, but there are many common economic areas that both countries could collaborate together on.

In the latest episode of the special Ambassador Series on The Boardroom, H.E. Femenía Guardiola said Spain has many strong economic sectors, such as hospitality and restoration, which have a presence all over the world but not in Malta, and so “need to be better taken care of”.

“We are in the sector of transportation, construction, insurance, energy – in the areas of green energy and digitalisation, for instance, there are many opportunities in Spain, taking into account the agenda set by the EU and the funds that will be allocated to countries to change their patterns of economic growth to be carbon neutral and more digital,” she explained.

“There are many sectors of the traditional economy and the new economy towards which the EU is working which we can help each other with.”

In recent years, Spain and Malta have grown and expanded their bilateral relations, with higher imports and exports registered in several product categories, including food, wines, fruits, vegetables, textiles, construction materials, furniture, and many other sectors that the ambassador believes, little by little, are diversifying and increasing bilateral exchange between both countries.

“Another important aspect of our relationship is tourism. The increase in Spanish nationals visiting Malta is among the highest recorded both by the Malta International Airport and the Malta Tourism Authority. In 2019, we had almost 100,000 tourists visiting Malta from Spain,” she asserts.

Although the coronavirus pandemic has heavily impacted visitor numbers on both ends, the ambassador believes that Spaniards enjoy discovering the Maltese islands, and visitor numbers have been encouraged by the direct flights available between Malta and several Spanish cities, including Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Seville.

“This is very important as, together with cruises which stop in Valletta, Spanish tourists can also come for short or long stays or to study English, which is creating a wave of discovery of Malta among Spanish society. I hope that when we can come back to our normal lives after coronavirus, the exchange of tourism will continue.”

The same can also be said for trade, where direct flights have aided the Maltese to visit Spain for its market opportunities. “The Maltese business sector has understood that going to fairs and finding service providers in Spain opens up options for good quality products at better prices compared to other markets that are the more natural choice for the Maltese, such as Italy.”

Speaking of mutual challenges and opportunities for both countries, H.E. Femenía Guardiola asserted that Malta and Spain are good partners as southern Mediterranean countries with like-mindedness in many areas, such as migration and the stability of the Mediterranean region, which affect both countries in the same way.

“Spain is managing the flow of migration that goes to the Straits of Gibraltar or the Balearic or Canary Islands, so we’re very exposed to migration coming from different points of origin in Africa,” said the ambassador.

“We understand the challenges and risks for security and the stress that migration poses to the economy and society, and we are together in the necessity of finding a solution in the EU that would be based on solidarity and a shared responsibility. Malta and Spain have a lot of work to do together on this and are also together on other issues of foreign affairs.”

Looking ahead to the future of Spain and Malta’s relationship, H.E. Femenía Guardiola said there are two dimensions: as partners in the EU and also as neighbours. “Even if we don’t share a land frontier, we share a sea frontier. It will be desirable to have more contact between the two governments and administrations, for them to be closer to each other for tackling the EU agenda and the many issues the countries have in common, as well as exploring opportunities in the digital, green economy, innovation and research sectors.”

On the bilateral front, the ambassador says that, besides tourism and commerce, culture and education stand to be explored further. “Spanish is one of the fastest growing languages here in terms of students being interested to learn a foreign language,” said H.E. Femenía Guardiola.

“Spanish not only opens opportunities in Spain of course but also Latin America and the USA, where it is the second most used language. At University level we are also starting to see good cooperation between Spanish and Maltese universities to create European campuses, so everything that has to do with exchange at University level and studies of Spanish as a foreign language are areas of interest for our bilateral relations.”